Maintaining proper pH

[LiveCulture]

im not sure what u mean by a buffer...is it a sort of homemade combination of things like you listed?

 

[JoeBel]

+1 on crushed coral, IMO a steady PH is always the best PH. My cichlids do just fine in their 7.6 PH because it's consistently at that level.

 

[navygirl76]

i use crushed coral in my sump. just put it in some pantyhose and tie a knot and throw it in there..

 

[Muske]

Or buy fish from local clubs that have raised there fry in your current pH tapwater.

 

[blkg35]

Crush coral gravel works really well or you can use Caribsea's Eco-complete sand or gravel. I'm currently running Caribsea Eco-complete blk/wht sand on all my tanks. This is what it looks like:
http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/cichlid_eco-complete.html

 

[LiveCulture]

i just put some larger crushed coral in my filters so ill see how it does

 

[krichardson]

i just put some larger crushed coral in my filters so ill see how it does

I've almost always used crushed coral as substrate for my Africans and had good results.What do you use as a bottom surface material?